28: Not all Silence is Golden

Quincy St. Martin

“So, what have you been doing today? Apart from ignoring me?” he asks as he accelerates and effortlessly merges into the busy highway.

I refuse to answer him. I glare at the view outside the window, pretending I didn’t hear him.

I’m sitting back in the red leather seat of his car with my arms folded across my chest. In case he’s wondering what I’m doing, I’m giving him the silent treatment.

“Still ignoring me, huh?” I see the corners of his lips curl up into that maddening, knowing smirk.

I don’t usually give people the silent treatment because it ends up torturing myself more than the other person. They might enjoy the peace and quiet. Heck, they might like it too much that I’m not talking, and not talking is torture. I can’t have that when I’m pissed off at them.

However, I feel like the situation calls for it at this moment. I yelled at him earlier about how it is not okay for him to spank me and kidnap me just because he feels like it.

He said it’s not kidnapping because I’m his mate and that I belong to him to do with as he pleases. I argued I’m still not his mate since I never agreed to it.

He insisted that I am.

Whatever I said didn’t seem to register in that thick skull of his, so now I’m giving him the silent treatment.

“Are you hungry?” he asks.

Of course, I’m hungry, and he knows it. I haven’t had dinner yet. He kidnapped me before I had the chance to eat Layla’s delicious stew!

I steal a glance at him from the corner of my eye. He’s frustrating, but damn, the man is beautiful. Just looking at him does something to my insides.

On top of trying not to talk to him and being hungry, I’m also trying not to let on how aware I am of our close proximity in the small space of his car. His hand on the gearshift is right next to my thigh. The crackles of electricity between us. The magnetic pull. The crazy beat of my heart whenever he is near.

Am I really his mate? I still can’t wrap my mind around it.

“I was thinking that we could stop to get a pizza or something,” he says after a while. He waits for me to say something again.

When I remain silent, he continues, “There’s this place called Jon’s Pizzeria. It’s a hole in the wall, but it serves the best pizza in town. The family’s mouthwatering secret recipe sauce, the light delicious crust, warm gooey cheese that melts in your mouth, all the toppings you could choose from… Ahhh heaven.”

My mouth waters just listening to him.

“Oh, well, since you’re not hungry, I guess we won’t stop,” he continues with an exaggerated heavy sigh.

But I ~am~ hungry, darn it! See? This is why I don’t normally give people the silent treatment. I’m only hurting myself. My stomach growls. Oh, this is torture! Somehow I don’t think this is working for me.

I give him a side glare, but he seems to be blissfully oblivious. He has this smug, but highly amused smile on his handsome face. He then leans down and fiddles with his radio station. A moment later, Brian Eno’s “Ambient 1” starts to play. Oh, my God!

Seriously? This song can even put a hyper monkey all hopped up on sugar and caffeine to sleep! I want to throttle him and yell, “Sure, kidnap the girl, slap her butt, starve her, then kill her with elevator music, why don’t you?”

But I can’t because I’m not talking to him.

Urrghhh! Nope! No! No! There’s only so much a girl can take. Angry now, I lean down and jab a button to cut off the slow, sleep-inducing music. A strangled noise, which sounds suspiciously like a muffled laugh, escapes from his mouth. I send him a death glare, and he coughs into his hand.

Then he flashes me a charming innocent smile, showing off the straight, even white teeth. I’m not fooled by that smile. How can somebody so beautiful be so evil?

After that, he drives in silence, and I wonder where we’re going. He’s also driving at a normal pace for once, almost obeying the speed limit. The farther we go, the harder it is for me to keep my mouth shut. I’m dying to know where he’s taking me.

I catch a glimpse of the ocean behind the trees and several beautiful houses that we pass.

The sun is sitting low on the horizon, and the sky is turning pinkish purple and orange-gold.

It’s getting dark by the time we pass a beautiful mansion with a long circular driveway.

From there, we turn onto a smaller road that goes uphill until we come to a fence with a sign that says ‘Private Property,’ but he keeps driving through the open gate.

The trees grow denser the higher we go until there’s nothing but trees around us.

Is he taking me into a forest so that he can kill me and get rid of my body? But I am his mate, my brain keeps reminding me.

What if he doesn’t want me as his mate and he’s getting rid of me? Oh God, Quincy, you have to learn to reel in your crazy thoughts. You’re only scaring yourself.

Okay, I can’t take it anymore. Keeping quiet and giving people the silent treatment is just not working for me.

“Where are you taking me?” I demand to know.

“Oh, she talks!” he says in mock surprise.

Ugh!!! I could kill him.

“Shut up! Where are we going?”

“Uh, sweetheart, you have to make up your mind. Do you want me to shut up, or do you want me to tell you where we’re going?”

Oh, God! How hard is it to kill a lycan? “Tell me!”

“Somewhere we can talk,” he answers me.

“Why does it have to be deep in the woods?”

“Why, my little precious? Are you scared of the big bad wolf luring you deep into the woods where nobody can find us so that I can have my way with you?”

I knew it! He’s going to kill me and get rid of my body somewhere in here.

“I think you’ve got your fairy tales all mixed up there, Mr. Big Bad Wolf. But seriously, aren’t we trespassing?”

“Relax, the property’s mine. My pack, I mean, my friends and I come here for training,” he explains. “Besides, we don’t hide dead bodies.”

He flashes me another wicked grin. “We burn them.”

“Ha, ha, ha, very funny,” I tell him. Somehow I’ve got a feeling that he’s not lying.

“You don’t have to worry, though. I’m not going to hide or burn your gorgeous body. I have other plans for it.”

“Wow, that doesn’t sound creepy at all,” I say. I really don’t want to know what his plans are, or do I?

He stops the car where the tiny road ends. There’s no house in sight. I think we’re in the middle of nowhere. He helps me out, and then he moves to open the trunk while I look all around us. It’s dark, and we’re high up on a hill.

The road that we traveled through is just a small trail, big enough to fit just one car. We’re surrounded by nothing but tall trees. When I look up, I can see the stars littering the dark sky.

The weather is a bit chilly, and I hug myself and rub my arms.

“Here,” he says, and he drapes a black pea coat over my shoulders. I get a whiff of his rich, wonderful, addictive smell. I want to bury my nose in it to take in his scent.

I feel, rather than see, him take a sniff of my hair.

Then, all of a sudden, his fingers dig into my upper arm and he buries his face in my hair and takes a deep breath as if he can’t help himself. Oh, God!

The feel of his nose and lips pressed on the back of my neck and his warm breath dancing on my skin are sending shivers down my spine. After a couple of minutes, he loosens his hold on my arm, and then he slowly lets me go.

He takes my hand and leads me through the woods. He’s carrying a dark, rectangular bag that he took out from the trunk in his other hand.

“Are you leading me to where you’re finally going to slaughter me?”

He chuckles. “We don’t kill our mates,” he says. His hand tightens around mine as if he’s worried that I’m going to take off running into the dark woods by myself.

My heart stutters and my stomach flips at the reminder that I am his mate.

“I know what you are,” I blurt out.

His steps falter, and I almost stumble into him. Then he continues walking, not even turning his head to look at me.

It takes almost a full minute before he casually but quietly asks, “Is that why you were ignoring me today?” He still doesn’t look at me.

Somehow his question tugs at my heart and makes me feel bad about it now. Like I hurt him. “Partly,” I admit because I want to be truthful.

We continue walking in the dark. Once in a while, I stumble on tree roots and small rocks protruding from the ground. He’s there to support me and make sure that I don’t fall flat on my face.

His warm hand holding mine makes me feel safe and protected. It also sends those sparks up my arms and warms up my whole body. Not long after, I see lights coming through the gaps in the trees. We slow down and finally stop when we reach a clearing overlooking the skyline and the city below.

“It’s beautiful,” I breathe.

He doesn’t answer me. He just nods and quietly goes to spread a red-and-white checkered blanket on the ground. Even when he’s moving, he seems to be deep in thought. He reaches out and leads me to sit on it, facing the view before us.

He unfolds his long legs and sits on the blanket as well. We’re not touching, but I can feel the heat from his body next to mine. He unzips the bag he’s been carrying, and suddenly the delicious smell of pizza sauce, melted cheese, and pepperoni fill my nose.